Command line utility and a Node.js library for email authentication.
- SPF verification
- DKIM signing
- DKIM verification
- DMARC verification
- ARC verification
- ARC sealing
- Sealing on authentication
- Sealing after modifications
- BIMI resolving and VMC validation
- MTA-STS helpers
Pure JavaScript implementation, no external applications or compilation needed. It runs on any server/device that has Node 16+ installed.
Command line usage
See command line documentation for the mailauth
command.
Library Usage
Authentication
Validate DKIM signatures, SPF, DMARC, ARC, and BIMI for an email.
await authenticate(message [,options]) ->
{ dkim, spf, arc, dmarc, bimi, receivedChain, headers }
Where
- message is either a String, a Buffer, or a Readable stream that represents an email message
- options (object) is an optional options object
- sender (string) is the email address from MAIL FROM command. If not set, then it is parsed from the
Return-Path
header - ip (string) is the IP of the remote client that sent this message
- helo (string) is the hostname value from HELO/EHLO command
- trustReceived (boolean) if true, then parses values for
ip
andhelo
from the latestReceived
header if you have not set these values yourself. Defaults tofalse
. - mta (string) is the hostname of the server performing the authentication (defaults to
os.hostname()
) - minBitLength (number) is the minimum allowed bits of RSA public keys (defaults to 1024). If a DKIM or ARC key has fewer bits, then validation is considered as failed
- disableArc (boolean) if true then skip ARC checks
- disableDmarc (boolean) if true then skip DMARC checks. It also disables checks that are dependent on DMARC (e.g., BIMI)
- disableBimi (boolean) if true, then skip BIMI checks
- seal (object) if set and message does not have a broken ARC chain, then seals the message using these values
- signingDomain (string) ARC key domain name
- selector (string) ARC key selector
- privateKey (string or buffer) Private key for signing. Either an RSA or an Ed25519 key
- resolver (async function) is an optional async function for DNS requests. Defaults to dns.promises.resolve
- maxResolveCount (number defaults to 10) is the DNS lookup limit for SPF. RFC7208 requires this limit to be 10.
- maxVoidCount (number defaults to 2) is the DNS lookup limit for SPF that produce an empty result. RFC7208 requires this limit to be 2.
- sender (string) is the email address from MAIL FROM command. If not set, then it is parsed from the
Example
const { authenticate } = require('mailauth');
const { dkim, spf, arc, dmarc, bimi, receivedChain, headers } = await authenticate(
message, // either a String, a Buffer or a Readable Stream
{
// SMTP transmission options if available
ip: '217.146.67.33', // SMTP client IP
helo: 'uvn-67-33.tll01.zonevs.eu', // EHLO/HELO hostname
sender: '[email protected]', // MAIL FROM address
// Uncomment if you do not want to provide ip/helo/sender manually but parse from the message
//trustReceived: true,
// Server processing this message, defaults to os.hostname(). Inserted into Authentication headers
mta: 'mx.ethereal.email',
// Optional DNS resolver function (defaults to `dns.promises.resolve`)
resolver: async (name, rr) => await dns.promises.resolve(name, rr)
}
);
// output authenticated message
process.stdout.write(headers); // includes terminating line break
process.stdout.write(message);
Example output:
Received-SPF: pass (mx.ethereal.email: domain of [email protected] designates 217.146.67.33 as permitted sender) client-ip=217.146.67.33;
Authentication-Results: mx.ethereal.email;
dkim=pass [email protected] header.s=default header.a=rsa-sha256 header.b=TXuCNlsq;
spf=pass (mx.ethereal.email: domain of [email protected] designates 217.146.67.33 as permitted sender) [email protected]
smtp.helo=uvn-67-33.tll01.zonevs.eu;
arc=pass (i=2 spf=neutral dkim=pass dkdomain=ekiri.ee);
dmarc=none header.from=ekiri.ee
From: ...
You can see the full output (structured data for DKIM, SPF, DMARC, and ARC) from this example.
receivedChain
receivedChain
property is an array of parsed representations of the Received:
headers.
DKIM
Signing
const { dkimSign } = require('mailauth/lib/dkim/sign');
const signResult = await dkimSign(
message, // either a String, a Buffer or a Readable Stream
{
// Optional, default canonicalization, default is "relaxed/relaxed"
canonicalization: 'relaxed/relaxed', // c=
// Optional, default signing and hashing algorithm
// Mostly useful when you want to use rsa-sha1, otherwise no need to set
algorithm: 'rsa-sha256',
// Optional, default is current time
signTime: new Date(), // t=
// Keys for one or more signatures
// Different signatures can use different algorithms (mostly useful when
// you want to sign a message both with RSA and Ed25519)
signatureData: [
{
signingDomain: 'tahvel.info', // d=
selector: 'test.rsa', // s=
// supported key types: RSA, Ed25519
privateKey: fs.readFileSync('./test/fixtures/private-rsa.pem'),
// Optional algorithm, default is derived from the key.
// Overrides whatever was set in parent object
algorithm: 'rsa-sha256',
// Optional signature specifc canonicalization, overrides whatever was set in parent object
canonicalization: 'relaxed/relaxed' // c=
// Maximum number of canonicalized body bytes to sign (eg. the "l=" tag).
// Do not use though. This is available only for compatibility testing.
// maxBodyLength: 12345
}
]
}
); // -> {signatures: String, errors: Array} signature headers using \r\n as the line separator
// show signing errors (if any)
if (signResult.errors.length) {
console.log(signResult.errors);
}
// output signed message
process.stdout.write(signResult.signatures); // includes terminating line break
process.stdout.write(message);
Example output:
DKIM-Signature: a=rsa-sha256; v=1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=tahvel.info;
s=test.rsa; b=...
From: ...
Verifying
const { dkimVerify } = require('mailauth/lib/dkim/verify');
// `message` is either a String, a Buffer or a Readable Stream
const result = await dkimVerify(message);
for (let { info } of result.results) {
console.log(info);
}
Example output:
dkim=neutral (invalid public key) [email protected] header.s=test.invalid header.b="b85yao+1"
dkim=pass [email protected] header.s=test.rsa header.b="BrEgDN4A"
dkim=policy policy.dkim-rules=weak-key [email protected] header.s=test.small header.b="d0jjgPun"
SPF
Verifying
const { spf } = require('mailauth/lib/spf');
let result = await spf({
sender: '[email protected]',
ip: '217.146.76.20',
helo: 'foo',
mta: 'mx.myhost.com'
});
console.log(result.header);
Example output:
Received-SPF: pass (mx.myhost.com: domain of [email protected]
designates 217.146.76.20 as permitted sender) client-ip=217.146.76.20;
envelope-from="[email protected]";
ARC
Validation
ARC seals are automatically validated during the authentication step.
const { authenticate } = require('mailauth');
const { arc } = await authenticate(
message, // either a String, a Buffer or a Readable Stream
{
trustReceived: true
}
);
console.log(arc);
The output is something like this:
{
"status": {
"result": "pass",
"comment": "i=2 spf=neutral dkim=pass dkdomain=zonevs.eu dkim=pass dkdomain=srs3.zonevs.eu dmarc=fail fromdomain=zone.ee"
},
"i": 2,
...
}
Sealing
During authentication
You can seal messages with ARC automatically in the authentication step by providing the sealing key. In this case, you can not modify the message any more as this would break the seal.
const { authenticate } = require('mailauth');
const { headers } = await authenticate(
message, // either a String, a Buffer or a Readable Stream
{
trustReceived: true,
// ARC seal settings. If this is set then resulting headers include
// a complete ARC header set (unless the message has a failing ARC chain)
seal: {
signingDomain: 'tahvel.info',
selector: 'test.rsa',
privateKey: fs.readFileSync('./test/fixtures/private-rsa.pem')
}
}
);
// output authenticated and sealed message
process.stdout.write(headers); // includes terminating line break
process.stdout.write(message);
After modifications
If you want to modify the message before sealing, you have to authenticate the message first and then use authentication results as input for the sealing step.
const { authenticate, sealMessage } = require('mailauth');
// 1. authenticate the message
const { arc, headers } = await authenticate(
message, // either a String, a Buffer or a Readable Stream
{
ip: '217.146.67.33', // SMTP client IP
helo: 'uvn-67-33.tll01.zonevs.eu', // EHLO/HELO hostname
mta: 'mx.ethereal.email', // server processing this message, defaults to os.hostname()
sender: '[email protected]' // MAIL FROM address
}
);
// 2. perform some modifications with the message ...
// 3. seal the modified message using the initial authentication results
const sealHeaders = await sealMessage(message, {
signingDomain: 'tahvel.info',
selector: 'test.rsa',
privateKey: fs.readFileSync('./test/fixtures/private-rsa.pem'),
// values from the authentication step
authResults: arc.authResults,
cv: arc.status.result
});
// output authenticated message
process.stdout.write(sealHeaders); // ARC set
process.stdout.write(headers); // authentication results
process.stdout.write(message);
DMARC
DMARC is verified as part of the authentication process and even as the dmarc
handler is exported, it requires input from previous steps.
Helpers
getDmarcRecord(domain [,resolver])
Returns parsed DMARC DNS record for a domain or a subdomain or false
is no record exists.
const getDmarcRecord = require('mailauth/lib/dmarc/get-dmarc-record');
const dmarcRecord = await getDmarcRecord("ethereal.email");
console.log(dmarcRecord);
Output
{
v: 'DMARC1',
p: 'none',
pct: 100,
rua: 'mailto:[email protected]',
sp: 'none',
aspf: 'r',
rr: 'v=DMARC1; p=none; pct=100; rua=mailto:[email protected]; sp=none; aspf=r;',
isOrgRecord: false
}
isOrgRecord
is true
for sudomains, where organizational domain's DMARC policy applies, so use the sp
, not p
policy.
Optionally set resolver
argument with custom resolver (uses dns.resolve
by default).
BIMI
Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) support is based on draft-blank-ietf-bimi-01.
BIMI information is resolved in the authentication step, and the results can be found from the bimi
property. The message must pass DMARC validation to be processed for BIMI. DMARC policy can not be "none" for BIMI to pass.
const { bimi } = await authenticate(
message, // either a String, a Buffer or a Readable Stream
{
ip: '217.146.67.33', // SMTP client IP
helo: 'uvn-67-33.tll01.zonevs.eu', // EHLO/HELO hostname
mta: 'mx.ethereal.email', // server processing this message, defaults to os.hostname()
sender: '[email protected]', // MAIL FROM address
bimiWithAlignedDkim: false // If true then ignores SPF in DMARC and requires a valid DKIM signature
}
);
if (bimi?.location) {
console.log(`BIMI location: ${bimi.location}`);
}
BIMI-Location
header is ignored by mailauth
, it is not checked for, and it is not modified in any way if it is present. BIMI-Selector
is used for selector selection (if available).
Verified Mark Certificate
Authority Evidence Document location is available from the bimi.authority
property (if set).
VMC (Verified Mark Certificates) for Authority Evidence Documents is a X509 certificate with an id-pe-logotype
extension (oid=1.3.6.1.5.5.7.1.12
) that includes a compressed SVG formatted logo file (read more here).
Some example authority evidence documents:
MTA-STS
mailauth
allows you to fetch MTA-STS information for a domain name.
const { getPolicy, validateMx } = require('mailauth/lib/mta-sts');
let knownPolicy = getCachedPolicy('gmail.com'); // optional
let mx = 'alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com';
const { policy, status } = await getPolicy('gmail.com', knownPolicy);
const policyMatch = validateMx(mx, policy);
if (policy.id !== knownPolicy?.id) {
// policy has been updated, update cache
}
if (policy.mode === 'enforce') {
// must use TLS
}
if (policy.mx && !policyMatch.valid) {
// can't connect, unlisted MX
}
Resolve policy
Resolve MTA-STS policy for a domain
async getPolicy(domain [,knownPolicy]) -> {policy, status}
Where
- domain is the domain to check for (e.g. "gmail.com")
- knownPolicy (optional) is the policy object from the last check for this domain. This is used to check if the policy is still valid or it was updated.
The function returns an object with the following properties:
- policy (object)
- id (string or
false
) ID of the policy - mode (string) one of "none", "testing" or "enforce"
- mx (array, if available) an Array of whitelisted MX hostnames
- expires (string, if available) ISO date string for cacheing
- id (string or
- status (string) one of the following values:
- "not_found" no policy was found for this domain. You can decide yourself how long you want to cache this response
- "cached" no changes detected, current policy is still valid and can be used
- "found" new or updated policy was found. Cache this in your system until policy.expires
- "renew" existing policy is still valid, renew cached version until policy.expires
- "errored" policy discovery failed for some temporary error (e.g., failing DNS queries). See policy.error for details
Validate MX hostname
Check if a resolved MX hostname is valid by MTA-STS policy or not.
validateMx(mx, policy) -> Object
Where
- mx is the resolved MX hostname (eg. "gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com")
- policy is the policy object returned by
getPolicy()
The function returns an object. If {valid}
is true
, then MX hostname is allowed to be used.
Testing
mailauth
uses the following test suites:
SPF test suite
OpenSPF test suite (archive.org mirror) with the following differences:
- Less strict whitespace checks (
mailauth
accepts multiple spaces between tags etc.) - Some macro tests are skipped (macro expansion is supported in most parts)
- Some tests where the invalid component is listed after a matching part (mailauth processes from left to right and returns on the first match found)
- Other than that, all tests pass
ARC test suite from ValiMail
ValiMail arc_test_suite
mailauth
is less strict on header tags and casing. For example, uppercaseS=
for a selector passes inmailauth
but fails in ValiMail.- Signing test suite is used for input only. All listed messages are signed using provided keys, but signatures are not matched against the reference. Instead,
mailauth
validates the signatures itself and looks for the same cv= output that the ARC-Seal header in the test suite has - Other than that, all tests pass
Setup
First, install the module from npm:
$ npm install mailauth
next import any method you want to use from mailauth package into your script:
const { authenticate } = require('mailauth');
License
Β© 2020-2022 Postal Systems OΓ
Licensed under MIT license